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"The Life I Lead" is a song from the 1964 Walt Disney film Mary Poppins, composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. Music arranger Irwin Kostal used the theme from this song as the leitmotif of George Banks, as it most expresses the way he "marches" through life.

The song is first sung as George Banks (played by David Tomlinson) marches through the front door of his home, on " return from daily strife to hearth and wife". The song is reprised several times throughout the film, with Julie Andrews also singing a verse. The final reprise is sung when Banks thinks he has lost everything. The music is now more somber and is retitled, "A Man Has Dreams".

• The lyrics of the song say:

  At 6:01, I march through my door, My slippers, sherry and pipe are due at 6:02, Consistent is the life I lead...

Lyricist Robert B. Sherman was making an inside comment about his own life. Having just secured a position with the Walt Disney Company, he also purchased a home in Beverly Hills, California. The house is located at 601 North Oakhurst Drive. In the lyric, 6:01 is a reference to time. In the songwriter's personal life, it was the address of his home. Although Sherman moved away from the house in 1969, years later a more recent owner put up a plaque which reads "Casa Poppins" because it was in that house that Sherman lived during the writing of Mary Poppins. The plaque is still at that location.

• An adaptation of this song called "Precision and Order" is evident in the stage musical version.
• It is through this song that the audience learns what year the story takes place. It is the only time it is mentioned in the film: "It's grand to be an Englishman in 1910 / King Edward's on the throne; it's the age of men!" The original books were set in 1934 but due to the film's great popularity, 1910 became the base point at which the stories took place. This new, preset date was later used to inform the 1930s setting of the 2018 sequel film, Mary Poppins Returns.

Stage play

• The Life I Lead is a 2019 one-man comedy play written by James Kettle about David Tomlinson's life in which the title of the play refers to the song. The song is also sung in the play by Miles Jupp who plays Tomlinson.

Literary sources

• Sherman, Robert B., Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond. Santa Clarita, CA: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.
• Sherman, Robert B., Moose: Chapters From My Life. Baltimore, MD: Orchard Hill Press, 2016.

References

1. "The Life I Lead - Walt Disney's Mary Poppins" on YouTube.
2. Sherman, Robert B. (2016). Moose: Chapters From My Life. Orchard Hill Press. ISBN 978-1491883662. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
3. "The Life I Lead". Miles Jupp. Retrieved 31 March 2019.

v t e P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins
Books	Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943)
Characters	Mary Poppins
Films	Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Returns
Television	Mary Poppins, Goodbye
Musicals	Mary Poppins
Music	Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack "Sister Suffragette" "The Life I Lead" "The Perfect Nanny" "A Spoonful of Sugar" "Jolly Holiday" "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" "Stay Awake" "I Love to Laugh" "Feed the Birds" "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" "Chim Chim Cher-ee" "Step in Time" "A Man Has Dreams" "Let's Go Fly a Kite" Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Returns: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack "The Place Where Lost Things Go"
Related	Saving Mr. Banks soundtrack accolades Susan Sto Helit "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" Cheshire Crossing
Category

• 1964 songs
• David Tomlinson songs
• Songs from Mary Poppins
• Songs written by the Sherman Brothers